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NRDC cries 'foul' on Burger King's antibiotic-raised chicken claims

December 30, 2016

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is crying "foul" on the recent announcement from Burger King and Tim Hortons that the brands will stop purchasing chicken from suppliers who raise hens using antibiotics that are "critically important" to human medicine. Many chains are making this move to respond to public demand and concern over the fact that nearly three-fourths of the antibiotics used to fight human bacterial infections are also used in livestock production nationally, a fact that's slowly rendering those antibiotics ineffective. 

Restaurant Brands International, which owns the chains, has said that Burger King and Tim Hortons will cease using those suppliers for chicken served in its U.S. stores this coming year and its Canadian stores in 2018, according to a news release. But NRDC — which has been a leading force for restaurant change on this issue — said the claim is more hype than substance. 

According to an NRDC news release, the term "critically important" indicates a near meaningless change over the chains' previous chicken supply. The organization said that according to the World Health Organization, the term "critically important" only applies to three classes of antibiotics, two of which have already been phased out of U.S. chicken production for a number of years. Likewise, NRDC said that Burger King is not addressing its presumed acceptance of chicken raised with other drugs that are important in human medicine.

"This is a small step that is much less meaningful for humankind than Burger King would have you believe," NRDC Senior Health Officer Dr. David Willinga said in a news release. "We're disappointed Burger King didn't take at least as much action as competitors McDonald's or Subway to show it's serious about helping to keep our lifesaving drugs working when people, including their customers, need them. The fast food industry is moving away from routine antibiotic use in their chicken supply and the chains that drag their feet will continue to fall behind."

Subway, McDonald's, Wendy's and Taco Bell, have all made commitments to end the routine use of medically important antibiotics in their chicken supplies during the last two years. The NRDC said Burger King's announcement falls far short of its competitors in terms of its scope and significance. 

Likewise, NRDC said that the nation's largest chicken chain, KFC, is perhaps the furthest behind in progress on this issue. In fact, this past fall, NRDC and a coalition of related groups released a scorecard ranking the antibiotics policies of the nation's top 25 fast food chains. At that time, Burger King and KFC had each received an "F."